Selling your work, having an audience, making a living, receiving invites to speak, having millions read your blog, all of that is groovy.
The flatness of the Internet is a beautiful thing – no barriers between you and sharing your ideas.
And you need to keep an eye on the soul’s needs, too.
I’m speaking especially to those of you who are just beginning to write or paint or coach or otherwise, create.
Because here’s the thing: Your soul needs time to express itself, you need time to find your voice, before you go to market.
I know, soul is such a ponderous word.
But there it is: you have one. And the soul and creative work are inextricably linked.
The last thing you want to do with your tender creative urges is bring them to market too soon.
In all the talk of platform building (god, I hate that word) and target audience and creating a great freebie, I often see something nasty happening to new creators. These are people who haven’t written or painted or coached much yet. They’ve been doing other things with their lives, and now, they feel like they will be torn apart if they don’t express themselves.
That feeling? It’s a holy calling. It is first about what your soul needs, not the world.
But then this new creator gets infected by the idea he has to do something BIG with his creative impulse.
He has to have a PLATFORM.
He has to want to be Internet famous.
And you know what I see, time and again? That the holy need to express yourself, it gets perverted. It goes underground. Then I get coaching clients with writer’s block and painting block and coaching block.
And I get angry and write a ranting post like this one!
Because this is a form of rape.
Do not rape your soul because you think it’s what you have to do to have a platform.
Give yourself time. Give your soul time to play for its own sake. Yes, this is true even if you already have a platform and an auidence. You can rape your soul just as easily, maybe more easily. Yes, shipping is important but it’s far more important is explore and express and learn for the love of it.
That’s what I believe.
There has to be a there there before you can have the next big thing. There has to be time for what is stirring in you to take shape. There has to be time for you to learn for the love it of, rather than for the marketing of it.
Don’t rape your soul. That’s my message for today. Thanks for listening.
27 responses so far ↓
1 Bob Apr 28, 2010
Great Post Jennifer Marie Louden! You are SMART!
2 Rachelle Mee-Chapman Apr 28, 2010
Jen,
I so agree with this! I blogged for several years before I found my most passionate voice and identified “my kind” of client — and my delivery method. (Just as important!)
I’ve read sites that say “just create something, ANYTHING, in the length of time it takes you to drink two beers. You’ll make money.” I intuitively pull away from those places. It just doesn’t ring true to me.
Some of the people I am working with now are just starting out in the soulwork process. Others have been paddling around there for a while and are ready to start creating for clients. It’s thrilling to watch them in each stage of the journey, because _nothing_ is ever wasted.
Thank you for comforting everyone who is in the beginning steps today.
Yours,
Rachelle
3 uberVU - social comments Apr 28, 2010
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by jenlouden: An angry post in which I use the word rape http://www.comfortqueen.com/the-soul-doesnt-need-a-platform...
4 chris zydel Apr 28, 2010
Dearest Jen,
I just ADORE you… this is so beautiful and so raw and so real… just like you.
It’s all to easy to lose our connection with the sweetness of our souls deep work when we’re so caught up in trying to make our mark in the world.
And it’s so great to be reminded that our love for our souls creative outpouring is at the core of everything we do.
Hugs and big love,
Chris
5 Fred Apr 28, 2010
You have hit the nail on the head with this post! It took me several years before I found my voice in my coaching / wellness practice. And now that I have found that voice, I have never been happier.
6 SJG Apr 28, 2010
Thank you, thank you for this! For permission to pause between “I want to do this!” and “Can I make money doing this?” Pause, and maybe even split the two.
I got a book deal a few years ago, and while I saw it through and the book is published now, it was an EXHAUSTING process because it wasn’t me. I was doing it for the sake of doing it, not because it was my voice or what I needed to say to the world.
A few years ago, before I got the book deal, I took several classes for no other reason than the subject matter fascinated me. That was anything but an exhausting process – it invigorated me, excited me! People would look at me funny and say “You’re studying what? Why? What are you going to DO with that?” I had no idea, but I couldn’t get enough. Maybe it’s time to turn back to that.
Or maybe it’s time to just sit with a blank piece of paper.
Thank you, Jen. Thank you.
7 Cynthia Morris Apr 28, 2010
Hear, hear! Well-said, and so important to not put all your efforts and attention into what the world wants/needs/audience, blah blah, before you have delved deeply inside first.
8 Trece Apr 28, 2010
Thank you, Jen. You’ve articulated something that spoke deeply to me. I have a blog, and I suppose I’ve answered my One Burning Question, but it hasn’t helped me to get where I feel like I’m supposed to go: “simplytrece, your mommy on the web”.
I mean, I KNOW I’m supposed to help and encourage people. I do it now by commenting on blogs. I just haven’t figured out how to do it where it counts. In part, I’m not sure where that is.
Thanks for shining the light!
9 Debi Apr 28, 2010
Boy. Fabulous! Joining Facebook was the eye-opener for me. A jillion life coaches who, for money, will give quotes and tell you to be you. I was amazed. Women (and it’s usually women) must be so unhappy, I thought, they need this so bad, and are they any better off when they’re done? It doesn’t seem so – they go from one e-course to another. I bless the e-course I found – timing was perfect, I was ready & the woman running it actually knows her stuff. But still, am I ready for a book, as everyone keeps telling me? No. I KNOW this. And as I pay attention, things move along at the correct pace. I am taking care of me first.
Again – love this. Love seeing it written right out there in words, out loud.
10 Jennifer Apr 28, 2010
Thank you all for this yahoo yeses. I needed to write this.
Rachelle, I totally agree with you – things can take time!
11 Karen D Apr 28, 2010
Thanks Jen, as a newbie to my creative voice/soul I have been floundering a bit with all the advice(pressure) out there.. I needed to hear this..my creativity needs some time to develop and I have to remind myself not to hurry it along.
12 Lianne Apr 28, 2010
Jen, I love you.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come here to find you articulating something that is a bullseye for something I’ve been feeling/thinking.
Amen.
13 Natalie Christie Apr 28, 2010
Hi Jen,
What are your thoughts when there is pressure to earn? Because I understand your idea here very deeply, and while it’s essential to allow enough time and space and love for our creative voice to find the right “tune”, how much time do we allow ourselves before we put it out there? This is especially important when shifting from one income stream to another…
(And it’s so easy to confuse our desire to nurture the baby that is our creative spirit with the fear of letting it try to walk on its own…)
The bliss is getting to that sweet place where your confidence in what you are creating is aligned with your ability to stand up for its value as a marketable commodity.
I’m not sure how long that should take. But you’re right to insist there is a need for time – without nurturing our gifts to hardy maturity there is no point in building a platform on which they can proudly stand.
14 Jennifer Apr 28, 2010
@Natalie – Great question: What are your thoughts when there is pressure to earn?
I think it’s damn hard. I think you have to be aware, at least I do, between making the money and raping my heart. I have dreams of working at the PO – oh wait, that’s a dying industry, too.
You know, lots of artists have had days jobs. It is a real big issue and too many people in the Internet make it sound like you can make millions, or at least thousands, no matter what you do. Big fat liars they are.
That said, be sure you have people in your life you can trust who can tell you if you are putting off shipping because of fear, perfectionism, etc or if you are hurrying to market. You need outside eyes – a mastermind group, a couple of good Twitter friends.
does that help?
15 sunny suman Apr 28, 2010
GREAT!!!
-there has to be time for u
to learn for the love of it – my fav statement.
Truly an inspiring and soul awakening post…..
16 Janet Goldstein Apr 29, 2010
Wonderful post, Jen. I’m in complete alignment with your perspective, plea, and grounding voice. I have a couple thoughts to add (I overwrite, don’t I?).
1. To me, small is ok–not for everything, but for lots of things. “Small” doesn’t have to mean “constricted,” “limited,” “not enough,” “experimental.” It can mean clarity, manageable, safe, defined. I recently mentioned that “No idea is too small” for an Idea Lab workshop, and people found it liberating. One idea, one creative concept, one drawing taken to fruition can be exquisitely meaningful, important, freeing. Small is beautiful.
2. I use the term “golden floor” to talk about that platform concept that has become a kind giant bugaboo in publishing circles, especially. The image comes from a dream a Jungian therapist and workshop participant wrote about in her memoir. We can see the golden floor as the lovely things underneath us that let us be noticed, heard, connected. A golden floor, or golden platform, can give us solidity, a supportive foundation for what we want to bring forth. Of course, there’s lot’s more to it when we look at commercializing our work, but the reframing can be change the us/them dichotomy.
3. Last, there’s a fantastic book by a friend of mine that’s getting lots of attention: The Artist in the Office by Summer Pierre. It’s about doing your art and making a living without losing your soul–a graphic novel-style how-to guide. Quite wonderful.
17 Dana Apr 29, 2010
Great Post
thanks! Love your books!
18 Kelly Salasin Apr 29, 2010
sounds like you have the chorus for a new women’s spiritual
19 Lynne Tolk Apr 29, 2010
Thank you, Jennifer, for this much needed support! The I Ching has been telling me the same things, to take it slow and protect what is growing. But there is always that voice that keeps telling me it’s getting late, I must hurry and do something Important!
20 Marianne Apr 29, 2010
Amen.
I think this is so important and so often overlooked in all the advice about ‘building platform’ (which writers are told over and over again)
If we need to write, then first we need to write. I wrote my entire book before I began to think about agents or platforms or target markets. First I needed to write what my soul needed me to write and it was a long, slow process of healing and coming into my own power and truth.
It’s so easy to feel rushed in this ‘flat’ internet world. We all need voices of kindness and comfort to remind us there is nowhere to be but exactly where we are.
Thank you.
21 Lisa Apr 30, 2010
Amen Sister… and what perfect timing for your words in my world. As I get ready to launch my next retreat and as I sit down to begin writing my first book, I’ve realized just how much I’ve been letting all of the work I did with my coach last year dictate everything, as if they were rules to live by~ without even allowing the thought that they may be her rules, but they’re not necessarily mine! To me, it’s simply got to be about way more than making millions, and platform shplatform, damnit. All along, I had a unique way of doing things that I was ignoring, out of that fear. So this time, I’m breaking all of the “rules”…. this time, my retreat comes from my heart, not from expectations… and this time, I write with the sole purpose of letting my own voice dance on the paper before I share it with anyone else.
Much gratitude, Jen…. and lots of hugs!
22 Pam Belding Apr 30, 2010
Bless you, Jennifer Louden for saying exactly what I needed to hear, right when I needed to hear it! Your timing is impeccable and your message is a comfort, as always. I love you and appreciate you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
23 What Did April Bring? A Heart’s Review | Comfort Queen Apr 30, 2010
[...] so tempting to get caught up in doing what you think you should do (read the comments on my last post) and then you do what you think you should do but it isn’t getting you where [...]
24 Daina (Dinah) Puodziunas May 1, 2010
I so resonate with this!! I had a coach you wanted me to move fast and follow specific deadlines and….. My soul told me this wasn’t MY way…it was HER way and I told her I have to follow my own way. Her feelings were hurt and there was some judgment and assumptions on her part that I may be letting my fear dictate how slow I was going. And yet I knew what was right for me. I am so happy I did that now.
I turned down a lot of offers and requests from others in busines to colaborate in the past. Knowing that it would scatter my energies and yet it felt like I was doing the “wrong” thing if I wanted to start making a decent income.
IT CAN GET SO CONFUSING!! Everyone is giving all kinds of advice on how YOU should move forward.
Wanting to keep with my natural pace, my playful engagement with my work has saved me from overwhelm and overload!
Thanks for the post,
Dinah
http://www.Midlifefairygodmothers.com
25 Susan Gallacher-Turner May 3, 2010
Wow…this hit home. Was just ‘scouting’ other artists platforms to see how I measure up. What I need to do to keep up, sell up, move up.
My soul wants so much to be free again, free to create, free to love what I create and be mystified by it. And not, have to market, market, market.
Yup. Now where to go with this?
26 6 Ways to End the Ick of Perfectionism, Overwhelm and Procrastination without getting a Lobotomy | Comfort Queen May 7, 2010
[...] Notice how the hounds use a lot of ! points? They are always on the search for perfect. They are never interested in enough. Their baying is exhausting and distracting, and quite frankly, boring because it keeps us from diving deeply into anything, from tending to the quieter voices of the heart, spirit, and soul. [...]
27 Marcy May 13, 2010
Jennifer you are so tuned in and your post is so timely – it echoes what I have been thinking and you don’t have to be a new coach for this to happen. I’ve been coaching since 1999 and I fell off my path and out of sync with my soul by doing what all the marketing gurus suggested I should do – it’s taken a year to slowly find my way back to what has heart and meaning. It’s so important to keep listening for those sparks of passion and creative nudges. Thank you for writing about it so eloquently.